MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia said on Monday it had summoned the Moldovan ambassador in Moscow to protest against what Russia’s foreign ministry called “unfounded accusations” against the Russian ambassador in Chisinau by a Moldovan political party.
The foreign ministry said in a statement that the unnamed political party had called for Russia’s ambassador to be expelled and for the work of Russia’s embassy to be limited.
Moldovan Prime Minister Dorin Recean said the summoning of the ambassador was linked to the leak of a letter from Russia’s embassy to Moldovan authorities on the energy crisis gripping Moldova’s separatist Transdniestria region.
Recean told reporters the letter said no Russian company would supply gas to the region, which has been suffering power and wintertime heating cuts since Ukraine refused to extend a transit deal to allow Russian gas to be shipped there.
He made no mention of any threat against the ambassador or the Russian embassy. Moldova’s foreign ministry made no comment.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu told her Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday that Russia was orchestrating an energy crisis in her country with the intention of bringing a pro-Moscow government to power there.
Russia denies any interference in Moldova’s internal affairs.
(Reporting by Reuters and by Alexander Tanas in Chisinau; Writing by Lucy PapachristouEditing by Andrew Osborn, Ron Popeski and Paul Simao)
